Exacting a Pound of Flesh

One thing that Republicans are very good at getting the so-called liberal media to do that Democrats need to catch up on is exacting that pound of flesh. We all know the game. Somebody makes a gaffe, and the Republicans demand that everyone even tangentially associated with that person disavow them and call on them to apologize or whatever. It's my opinion that this usually comes from the Republican side instead of the Democratic side. It's happening again today. And yet there are at least half a dozen stories and issues that reporters could be asking Republican candidates about.

"Mr. Guiliani, do you support George Allen's efforts to beat up a constituent who asked him a question?"

"Sen. Warner, do you think the al-Maliki government in Iraq should have operational control of how American military forces go about looking for their own abducted soldiers?"

"Sen. McCain, do you agree with the Vice President that dunking a terror suspect underwater to simulate drowning is a 'no-brainer'?"

You see how this goes. It's gotcha politics, and it's stupid politics. In a perfect world no one candidate would have to answer for the actions of someone else in their party, especially if they had no connection to the specific incident in question. It's a judgment call. As McCain was heavily involved with all of the bills regarding torture, I'd say that asking the Cheney question of him is probably more relevant.

But where do such questions really get us? They fill airspace on 24-hour news shows, and that's about it. They are familiar games where politicians are expected to dance through familiar hoops and make familiar statements. It's a meaningless, pointless exercise that does nothing but distract. This election is about a failed foreign and domestic policy and how to reverse the course by stopping a rubber-stamp Congress from enabling the same mistakes. Everything else is window dressing.

UPDATE: Oh yeah, and Kerry apologized, too. Which is all anyone ever said they wanted, and yet they're still exacting their pound(s) of flesh.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Digby says the same thing, but better.